Bearing device

ABSTRACT

The bearing device comprises a bearing  4 , a washer  5  and a coupling piece  6  that couples the bearing  4  to the washer  5  and/or separates itself from the washer  5  and the bearing  4  by a pressure force applied thereto, wherein the bearing, the washer and the coupling piece are integrally formed with each other, and the base flap  7  is formed with a projection  7   b . Due to this construction, an operator can easily hold the bearing  4  and the washer  5  as one component, and as the coupling piece  6  can be readily removed by the projection  7   b , a working efficiency for installing this device can be drastically improved, and the automated mounting operation thereof can also be easily implemented.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Technical Field

The present invention relates to a bearing device composed of a bearingand a washer integrally formed with each other, which can be readilyloaded to a shaft and its fitting operation can be greatly facilitated.

2. Background Art

Conventionally, as one example of a small electronic device providedwith a bearing component such as a bearing, there has been provided sofar a disk player for reading out data recorded on an optical disk orthe like. The disk player is provided with a disk loading device forcarrying the optical disk into and/or out of the disk player, and isfurther provided with a carriage roller for sending the optical disk toa predetermined location.

The bearing device for use in a disk loading device is explained below,by taking up a carriage roller provided in the loading device as anexample. FIG. 16 is a front view of a carriage roller to which aconventional bearing device is attached, FIG. 17 is an explodedperspective view showing the state in which neither a bearing nor a gearis attached to the carriage roller, FIG. 18 is an exploded perspectiveview showing the state in which both a bearing and a gear are attachedto a carriage roller, FIG. 19 is a magnified front view of an endportion of a carriage roller and FIG. 20 is an exploded perspective viewof a carriage roller and a base flap.

In these figures, reference numeral 11 denotes a shaft, 11 a denotes astepped portion, 12 denotes a rubber roller for carrying a disc-shaperecording medium such as an optical disk (not shown) to a predeterminedlocation, and is integrally formed with the shaft 11, 13 denotes abearing secured to the shaft 11, the shifting movement thereof towardthe rubber roller 12 being limited by the stepped portion 11 a. Further,numeral 14 denotes a gear that is pressure-inserted to be fixed to theend portion of the shaft 11, numeral 15 denotes a base flap forrotatably supporting the shaft 11, and numeral 15 a denotes abearing-holder recess for holding the bearing 13.

The operation of the conventional bearing device is as follows.

As shown in FIG. 20, by engageably inserting the bearing 13 attached tothe shaft 11 into the bearing-holder recess 15 a, the shaft 11 isrotatably supported by the base flap 15.

Since the conventional bearing device is constructed as such, in orderthat the bearing 13 is not brought into contact with the rubber roller12, the shaft 11 has to be formed with the stepped portion 11 a and therubber roller 12 has to be integrally formed with the shaft 11, andbecause of this construction, there has been such a problem that thefabrication thereof requires much labor and the total cost is therebyraised.

For solving this problem, there has been provided so far a carriageroller, in which the rubber roller is not integrally formed with theshaft but is formed as an individually different component, and theshaft is inserted into the rubber roller. The carriage rollerconstructed as such is further formed with a washer between the bearing13 and the rubber roller for preventing the rubber roller from shiftingin the axial direction of the shaft and brought into contact with thebearing 13.

However, as both the bearing 13 and the washer explained above are madethin and small, the problem still remains that the installation of thesecomponents to the shaft is rather difficult, and that the installationitself cannot be readily automated.

The present invention has been proposed to solve the problemsaforementioned, and it is an object of the present invention to providea bearing device, which can be easily mounted to the shaft and theautomation of its mounting operation can also be readily implemented.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

In order to achieve the above object, the bearing device according tothe present invention is constructed in such a manner as to comprise: abearing fitted to a shaft, a washer fitted to the shaft at the closeproximity to the bearing, a coupling piece for coupling the bearing andthe washer, and also separating itself from the washer and the bearingby an applied pressure force, wherein the bearing, the washer and thecoupling piece are integrally formed with each other.

Due to this construction, an operator can easily hold the bearing andthe washer as one component, and the coupling piece can be readilyremoved by applying a predetermined pressure force thereto, so that aworking efficiency for installing this device can be drasticallyimproved, and the automated mounting operation thereof can also beeasily implemented. Further, the washer and the bearing are preventedfrom being lost during the mounting operation of the bearing device.

The bearing device according to the present invention further comprisesa projection provided at the close proximity to the bearing holdingrecess.

Due to this, the coupling piece is severed by applying a pressure forceto one part of the coupling piece when fitting the bearing to thebearing holding recess, so that the coupling piece can be readilyremoved, and the working efficiency for installing this device canthereby be drastically improved,.

The bearing device according to the present invention further comprisesa projection formed on the inner surface of its shaft insertion hole ofthe bearing, and the shaft is formed with a fitting groove for fittingand primarily fixing the projection to the groove.

Due to this, the bearing device can be readily shifted or carried toanother location as an attachment provided to a carriage roller.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing a carriage roller towhich a bearing device according to a first embodiment of the presentinvention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a front view of a shaft.

FIG. 3 is an exploded front view showing the assembling state in which arubber roller and a bearing device are mounted to the shaft.

FIG. 4 is a partly sectional view of a gear fixed to the shaft.

FIG. 5 is a front view of the bearing device mounted to one end of theshaft.

FIG. 6 is a front view of the bearing device mounted to the other end ofthe shaft.

FIG. 7 is a front view of the bearing device.

FIG. 8 is a left-side view of the bearing device shown in FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 is a right-side view of the bearing device shown in FIG. 7.

FIG. 10 is a plain view of the bearing device shown in FIG. 7.

FIG. 11 is a sectional view of the bearing device shown in FIG. 10 cutalong the line A—A.

FIG. 12 is a sectional view of the bearing device shown in FIG. 9 cutalong the line B—B.

FIG. 13 is a sectional view of the bearing device shown in FIG. 7 cutalong the line C—C.

FIG. 14 is a front view showing the state just before the shaft fittedhaving the bearing device mounted thereto is set to a base flap.

FIGS. 15A to 15D are side views showing altogether the procedure forseparating and removing a coupling piece from the bearing device

FIG. 16 is a front view of a carriage roller provided with aconventional bearing device.

FIG. 17 is an exploded perspective view showing the state just beforethe bearing and the gear are mounted to the carriage roller.

FIG. 18 is an exploded perspective view showing the state immediatelyafter the bearing and the gear are mounted to the carriage roller.

FIG. 19 is a magnified view of an end portion of the carriage roller.

FIG. 20 is an exploded perspective view of the carriage roller and thebase flap.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Several embodiments for carrying out best the present invention are nowexplained with reference to attached drawings, in order to explain thepresent invention to details.

[First Embodiment]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing a carriage roller towhich a bearing device according to a first embodiment of the presentinvention is applied, FIG. 2 is a front view of a shaft, FIG. 3 is anexploded front view showing the assembling state in which a rubberroller and a bearing device are mounted to the shaft, FIG. 4 is a partlysectional view of a gear fixed to the shaft, FIG. 5 is a front view ofthe bearing device mounted to one end of the shaft, FIG. 6 is a frontview of the bearing device mounted to the other end of the shaft, FIG. 7is a front view of the bearing device, FIG. 8 is a left-side view of thebearing device shown in FIG. 7, FIG. 9 is a right-side view of thebearing device shown in FIG. 7, FIG. 10 is a plain view of the bearingdevice shown in FIG. 7, FIG. 11 is a sectional view of the bearingdevice shown in FIG. 10 cut along the line A—A, FIG. 12 is a sectionalview of the bearing device shown in FIG. 9 cut along the line B—B, FIG.13 is a sectional view of the bearing device shown in FIG. 7 cut alongthe line C—C, FIG. 14 is a front view showing the state just before theshaft fitted having the bearing device mounted thereto is set to a baseflap, FIGS. 15A to 15D are side views showing altogether the procedurefor separating and removing a coupling piece from the bearing device

In these figures, reference numeral 1 denotes a metal -made shaft, 1 adenotes a primary fixing groove for fitting the bearing thereto, 2denotes a rubber roller which is formed separately from the shaft 1 insuch a manner that the shaft 1 can be inserted thereto, and comes incontact with an optical disk having a disc-shape recording medium (notshown) when the optical disk is carried thereby. This rubber roller 2 isslidably mounted to the shaft 1 in the axial direction of the shaft.

Reference numeral 3 denotes a gear fitted to the shaft 1 bypressure-inserting one end of the shaft 1 thereto, and composes one partof the loading mechanism of a disk loading device not shown.

Reference numeral 4 denotes a bearing to be fitted to the primary fixinggroove 1 a, 5 denotes a washer which is disposed between the bearing 4and the rubber roller 2 to avoid friction resistance generated by thecontact between the bearing 4 and the rubber roller 2, 6 denotes acoupling piece for coupling the bearing 4 and the washer 5, wherein thebearing 4, the washer 5 and the coupling piece 6 are all integrallymolded by resin material.

These components are explained into details with reference to FIGS. 7 to13. In the figures, reference numeral 4 a is a shaft insertion hole thatallows insertion of the shaft thereto, and numeral 4 b denotes aprojection formed on the inner wall of the shaft insertion hole 4 a tobe fitted with the primary fixing groove 1 a of the shaft 1. Referencenumeral 4 c denotes a flat portion, 5 a denotes a shaft insertion holeto which the shaft 1 is inserted, and 5 b denotes a flat portion.

Reference numeral 6 a denotes a connecting portion for linking the flatportion 4 c of the bearing 4 and the flat portion 5 b of the washer 5,and is made so thin that it can be severed by a predetermined pressure.Further, the length of the protrusions of this connecting portion 6 arespectively projecting from the flat portions 4 a and 5 b are made insuch a manner as not to exceed the external diameter of the rubberroller 2 as indicated by a long-and-short dash line shown in FIG. 9. Theflat portions 4 c, 5 b and the connecting portion 6 a are made as such,so as to reduce the length of the rest of the protrusion of theconnecting portion 6a projecting toward the flat portions 4 c and 5 bafter the connecting portion 6 a is severed.

Further, as shown in FIG. 1, reference numeral 7 denotes a base flap(shaft holding member) for rotatably holding the shaft 1, and is fixedto the chassis of a disk loading device not shown. Reference numeral 7 adenotes a bearing-holder recess for holding the bearing 4 fitted to theshaft 1, whose inner diameter at the nearby area of its opening is madein such a manner that the bearing 4 can be engageably inserted. Numeral7 b denotes a projection formed near the bearing-holder recess 7 a, andit exists for applying a predetermined pressure to the connectingportion 6 a of the coupling piece 6 when the bearing 4 is engageablyinserted into the recess 7 a. That is, this projection 7 b is disposedin the nearby area of the bearing-holder recess 7 a, and is protrudedlyformed at a location where it can be abutted to the connecting portion 6a when the bearing 4 is engageably inserted.

The operation of the bearing device according to the present inventionis as follows.

As shown in FIGS. 14, 15A and 15B, first, the bearing 4 fitted to theshaft 1 is disposed at a location facing the bearing-holder recess 7 aof the base flap 7.

Thereafter, by applying a predetermined pressure in the directionindicated by a black arrow within FIGS. 15A to 15D, the bearing 4 isengageably inserted into the recess 7 a. On this occasion, since theconnecting portion 6 a is abutted to the projection 7 b and receiving apredetermined pressure applied thereto, the coupling piece 6 isgradually bent as shown in FIG. 15C, and finally when the coupling piece6 is severed as shown in FIG. 15D, it is separated from the bearing 4and the washer 5. That is, since the coupling piece 6 can be readily andquickly separated and removed when disposing the shaft 1 on the baseflap 7, the entire operation can be completed quite easily.

As explained heretofore, according to the first embodiment of thepresent invention, since the operator can easily handle the bearing 4and the washer 5 which are integrally formed with each other by thecoupling piece 6, his working efficiency can be greatly improved, andthe mounting operation as a whole can be easily automated. Further,since the coupling piece 6 can be easily removed when the shaft 1 isplaced on the base flap 7, the working efficiency is further improved.

It should be noted that the first embodiment of the present inventionhas been explained as to the case where the projection 7 b is disposedon the base flap. However, the application of the present invention isnot limited to this, but even if the projection 7 b is mounted in a jigfor disposing the base flap in a predetermined location, the sameeffects can be obtained. Still further, the structure of each of thebearing 4, the washer 5, the coupling piece 6, and of the projection 7 bcan be variably changed, and is not limited to those shown in thefigures.

Still further, the first embodiment of the present invention has beenexplained as to the case where the present invention is applied to acarriage roller of a disk loading device. However, the application ofthe present invention is not limited to this, but it can be applied toany device requiring a small-type bearing device, obtaining the sameeffects as those obtained in the present embodiment.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

As explained heretofore, the bearing device of the present invention issuitable to any device that requires a small-type bearing device, andrequires also an improvement in the working efficiency for its mountingoperation and a automation of its mounting operation.

What is claimed is:
 1. A bearing device comprising: a bearing fitted toa shaft, a washer fitted to said shaft at the close proximity to saidbearing, a coupling piece for coupling said bearing and said washer, andalso separating itself from said washer and said bearing by an appliedpressure force, wherein said bearing, said washer and said couplingpiece are integrally formed with each other.
 2. A bearing deviceaccording to claim 1 further comprising a shaft holding member formedwith a bearing holding recess for holding said bearing fitted to saidshaft, and a projection provided at the close proximity to said bearingholding recess for severing said coupling piece by applying a pressureforce to one part of said coupling piece when mounting said bearing tosaid bearing holding recess.
 3. A bearing device according to claim 1,wherein said bearing is formed with a projection on the inner surface ofits shaft-insertion hole, and said shaft is formed with a fitting groovefor fitting and primarily fixing said projection to said groove.